This dude must have been from another planet (not unlikely -- he recorded the Space Ghost Coast to Coast theme song). Check this track out. And especially listen to Pharaoh Saunder's solo! Right around 2:30 he goes IN! Of course, Sonny puts it down, too.

I purposely post things that are a little outside the "shred" world to this forum sometimes because I want to get fresh opinions on it. I want to be challenged to hear new things in it. But I find time and again that nobody can really explain themselves at all. As the poster above me has shown, I'm lucky if I can even get something so articulate as, "I think this sucks". I mean, really? An emoticon is all you have to say? Come on, folks. Tell me what you like or don't like. Let's have a discussion about music!

i dont think it sucks but just not something i could listen to a lot of.i dont know much about this style of music but i think these jazz blokes use all sorts of different scales and chord's like modes of melodic minor,altered scales etc, and i guess this is where augmented,diminished,altered chords come from and to the untrained ear these can sometimes sound a little off,especially when you mess with the 5'ths.plus at 9 minutes just a tad long.not that i dont like long songs(i can listen to shine on you crazy diamond any day of the week)just not for me.who knows maybe this type of thing grow's on you if you listen to it often enough.

Certainly as jazz got more developed in the late 50's on through the 60's people started turning to complex scales more and more. But in this kind of jazz, players are really searching for a more "free" sound. That is to say, they aren't concerned with outlining chords or imposing very particular scales over complex harmonies. They're just trying to play gestures. If you listen, there is still a distinct line going on in everything these dudes play. Take the saxophone solo in the beginning of the song I posted for instance. Certainly it starts off in a more tonal place and seems like it might develop in a conventional sense. Some parts are even pretty funky and sound like straight ahead blues. But as the crazy saxophone sounds start coming into play, it stops functioning on a "traditional" level. Listen closely to the moment from 2:30 to 3:05 and notice the point where the guitar comes in. At that moment, the saxophone hits the highest note it has played since the song began. And it doesn't just hit it once, but the player keeps revisiting that note. He starts pushing himself to go beyond that note. Clearly, this is a dramatic climax. It wasn't achieved through harmonic tension like we may be used to, but it is a climax all the same and certainly an intense one.

Then, once the guitarist takes over, his opening line comes directly from the saxophone's conclusion. This flurry of notes is purely gestural rather than anything derived from the harmony. It's purely chromatic and it is climbing in pitch at a calculated interval not related to material in the song's structure. But the shape of the line tells you a lot. He's putting something out there for your ears that is purely visceral and much easier to interpret than you think. You just have to stop thinking, "these are sounds that I don't really understand and trying to decipher them is difficult" but just hear it plainly. Hear the shapes. Hear the lines. Hear the intensity grow and expand and function LIKE music but not under the rules of music. In a lot of ways, you can instantly understand what the artists are saying because it ISN'T encoded in musical intricacy. It's just feelings.

Dig this guitar solo from Sonny in this tune. The solo starts at 1:07 but at 2:00 you get a chance to hear the kinds of things I'm talking about. It's just emotion. It's just an energy freak out. It's so easy to get in touch with.

yeah i checked it out.The best way to describe it for me is to use the analogy that its like pumpkin,some people love the stuff and i've tried it a couple of times but i still cant get a taste for it.doesn't mean its bad just not for me.

I purposely post things that are a little outside the "shred" world to this forum sometimes because I want to get fresh opinions on it. I want to be challenged to hear new things in it. But I find time and again that nobody can really explain themselves at all. As the poster above me has shown, I'm lucky if I can even get something so articulate as, "I think this sucks". I mean, really? An emoticon is all you have to say? Come on, folks. Tell me what you like or don't like. Let's have a discussion about music!